


The Only Gift She Wanted

by spoowriterfic



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: F/F, Missing Scene, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:41:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25718230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spoowriterfic/pseuds/spoowriterfic
Summary: Set immediately following the end of 402 ("I've Got Friends in Low Places") -- and by immediately, I mean *immediately* -- Waverly begins to understand how profoundly the events of that episode have affected Nicole.(This was very hard to do without spoilers.)
Relationships: Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught
Comments: 9
Kudos: 277





	The Only Gift She Wanted

**Author's Note:**

> So, I promised myself that I would (1) not write anything addressing these couple of episodes before we get a clearer sense of what happened in Purgatory and (2) not dash out a short piece without the care and rewrites and agonizing over every word that usually plagues me when I'm writing (hi, anxiety).
> 
> And then when I was tweeting (@spoowriter) about 402, and mentioned to the world that Nicole probably had a neat little pile of presents for Waverly, and probably one for Wynonna, and then I heard Nicole saying one line in this clear as day as I drove back home from work and ended up writing this instead of lesson planning.
> 
> I tried to be vague enough that this won't be immediately invalidated by the next episode (I'm actually kind of proud of how many of the same emotional notes a lot of my post-season-3 stories have hit as in the show...the plot's different, of course, but I wasn't as far off as I feared).

“Eighteen _months_?!”

Nicole swallowed hard. “And three weeks. And four days,” she said in that same shell-shocked whisper.

Waverly forced down her shock, for the moment pushing aside all the questions swirling through her brain in the face of the brokenness she saw in Nicole’s eyes. “Oh, Nicole,” she breathed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I swear, I didn’t. We didn’t even…I think we slept once?” With a shuddering gasp, Nicole leaned forward, nuzzling back into Waverly’s neck before she attempted, and failed, to swallow down a hiccupping sob. “It’s okay, baby. Go ahead and cry. I’m sorry I stopped you before…I was just confused. I didn’t realize.”

Nicole could only allow herself a few moments, before she pulled back to desperately search Waverly’s eyes. “I can’t believe you’re here,” she said, joy and agony warring for dominance in her eyes. “It’s been so long.”

“I’m here,” Waverly said. “I needed a little nudge from Wynonna, but after she said you would – ”

“Wynonna?! Is she…?”

“She’s fine. I’m sure she’s around somewhere.” Waverly bit her lip. “We probably should get dressed, actually, before she walks in on us. Again.” There was a flash of sudden terror in Nicole’s eyes. “Hey,” Waverly said soothingly. “Together, okay? We can go get dressed together.” She risked a slightly risqué grin. “We got _un_ dressed together, didn’t we?”

She took Nicole’s shaking hand and followed as she picked up her clothes, then led her up the stairs. It was a strange feeling, standing there with her hand on the doorknob, knowing it had been over a year and a half since she’d been inside, because it felt like no more than a day or two for her.

“I kept it the same,” Nicole whispered, apparently mistaking her hesitation for worry. “I mean, I cleaned…and dusted…washed your sheets once a month. I kept it ready for you.”

Waverly exhaled again, beginning to realize exactly how badly all of this had affected Nicole.

Well.

She’d been asking Nicole to let her be the strong one sometimes.

So she’d be the strong one.

She turned and smiled gently. “I’m okay. Just…trying to wrap my head around all this. It feels like I was just here. But…I don’t know, maybe part of me…sensed it somehow? I remember asking Doc how long we’d been in the Garden a couple times.”

She felt Nicole’s whole body shudder at the mention of the Garden and lifted her hand to her lips and kissed it, then turned and opened her bedroom door.

Nicole was, of course, absolutely true to her word. Her room was immaculate. The curtains were open halfway to let light in, the bed was made, and –

She stopped and stared at the loveseat against the wall.

“They’re…I have presents for you,” she said, following Waverly’s confused gaze to the two neat stacks of packages on the loveseat, her voice shaking again. “Christmas…your birthday…Valentine’s Day.” Her voice broke as she choked out around a sob, “Our anniversary. I mean…I had to _make_ them…but it turns out I’m pretty good at woodcarving.”

Suddenly, it was all… _real_.

Eighteen months.

Eighteen months. Three weeks. Four days.

She had been gone a year and a half.

Nicole had been waiting for her for a _year and a half_.

“I-I…God, Nicole….” She took Nicole’s face between her hands and pulled her in for another kiss. “I love you. So much. I…wish I….” She sniffed. “I guess I owe you a few presents.”

Nicole shook her head sharply. “You came back. That’s all I need. That’s all I wanted. That’s all I _ever_ wanted.”

“I have a couple for Wynonna too,” she added as Waverly held up a small package wrapped in plain butcher paper that was covered with lewd drawings with a sharply-raised eyebrow. “It’s kind of an inside joke,” Nicole said, shrugging. “From when I sent her after you.”

“You said you broke your leg?”

“In three places.” Waverly’s eyes widened. “It’s a long story…c-can it wait?”

There was something so hesitant and vulnerable that despite her intense curiosity, Waverly could do nothing other than say, “Of course.”

They both jumped when they heard door to the Homestead bang open downstairs, followed by Wynonna’s squawked, “Oh, my God, what the…? How much sex did you two have already?!”

Nicole’s eyes filled with tears, but she smiled anyway. “I can’t believe I missed her.”

“Also what the hell happened to Purgatory?!”

Waverly could see that Nicole was a bit overwhelmed by all the changes that had crashed into her life in the last hour, so she poked her head out of the door to her bedroom to say, “I’m sure Nicole can explain all of it, but give us a minute, and for the love of God, _stay downstairs_.”

Just as she shut the door to her room, she heard Wynonna’s smirking drawl: “Yeah, about the stairs….”

**Author's Note:**

> Um. I'm sorry?
> 
> Look, I'm a sucker for a good hurt/comfort story (though this is mostly hurt...sorry, Nicole) and I have always been interested in exploring exactly how much of Nicole's persona is just that -- a persona (kinda like Waverly, in that way). I always come back to when she started crying in Dolls's hotel room...she shut herself down FAST and immediately focused on work so she wouldn't feel the feelings. I'm very interested to see how this dynamic plays out in the next episode -- Nicole is slowly allowing herself to be more vulnerable with those she loves most (whining to Waverly about her elf costume, hugging Nedley, and all of those lovely scenes with her and Wynonna in this one) but it's still rare for her. Or it was -- because she was very, very vulnerable with Waverly here, starting with "are you real" and through their entire conversation on the stairs. I hope I was able to capture the interplay here between the Nicole we're used to and the Nicole we saw in the episode.


End file.
